A Question and a Request

Tomorrow night begins Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. I have a request. Wherever you are in the world – tomorrow night as darkness sets in, light a candle and think of the six million Jews and the millions of non-Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

Maybe tomorrow night I’ll write about my visit to Poland a few years ago – but right now, I want to write about something else. I just read that today a group of partisans, fighters who fought the Nazis in the forests of Europe, anywhere and any way that they could, visited an air force base today. Israel is home to thousands of Holocaust survivors. They have lived here since the beginning – leaving the gas chambers of Europe to help build a nation.

Especially at this time of the year, as the annual commemoration of those horrible years arrives, we honor them and we listen to them, to the nightmares they still suffer, the fears they still have, the scars they still carry. Today, they had a request for our pilots. A request, and a question.

More than half a century ago, they faced an enemy that wanted, needed, dreamed of annihilating our people. They know such evil existed in this world and they know that it still exists. One woman asked an officer in our air force if our pilots could reach Iran. “They can reach anywhere,” he answered.

I love that answer for its simplicity. He did not explain about Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, spread over many sites, miles apart. He did not speak of the hatred they knew better than most; he did not talk of oil and political maneuverings. He did not speak of America and if it would talk or act this time, as it failed to do for the Jews dying in Auschwitz – the ones that could have been saved if American had bombed the rail lines, as they were asked.

He did not speak of other European nations, of the silence that murders as effectively as poison gas. He did not talk of how much uranium the Iranians have, when their nuclear development will reach critical mass. Instead, he offered them a simple answer carrying the reassurances these survivors needed. Yes, he was explaining, we can stop them. No, we will not be helpless again. No, you have nothing to fear and yes, this time they will not succeed because we will stop them.We will not depend on others; we will do for our people now what we could not do then.

An air force plane slowly rolled past the group, and the partisans began to clap. The pilot wanted to honor them; they gave their honor right back. Israel has given them a home, a land, and the courage to live after learning all that would encourage a person to want to die. More than a decade ago, one of our defense ministers went to Poland, to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto. In a sad and solemn tone, he spoke to those who could no longer hear him. He told them that the air force of Israel had come to pay their respects. They’d come 50 years too late to save them, he explained, but they’d come to Warsaw. It was a promise that the air force would never be too late again. We would fly to Yemen, to Ethiopia, to Uganda. We would fly to Iraq and to Sudan, and we may yet fly to Iran.

A few years after that defense minister was in Warsaw, an Israeli pilot, son of a Holocaust survivor, honored those who died in Auschwitz by flying over the concentration camp. It was a message to his grandparents who had died there and to all the world. See us. Hear us. Know that this time, this time we can reach anywhere, not because we want to, but because we know that in this world, we have to.

Today, another survivor made her own request of the air force of Israel, “What I ask of you is to make sure that there will not be another Holocaust.”

Tomorrow night, when you light that candle, please think of my son Elie, a young and handsome soldier, one of tens of thousands of strong, proud young men who guard Israel today and tomorrow. Think of them because what they do, they do for this precise reason. Tomorrow night, my son will guard Israel. Our sons will guard the skies of Israel, the borders, the seas. Europe and America did what they did more than 60 years ago, and we know what they did not do. We know the railways to Auschwitz were not bombed and we know deals were not made. People were sent back to die rather than given refuge.

Today, Israel can send the bombs, make the deals, and offer refuge. It is an unbelievable thing, to ask a young man to make sure there will not be another Holocaust, but that survivor’s request was made to Israel and today, as our sons stand on our borders and fly our skies, they assure us all that they will honor that request, even if it means flying to Iran.

Our son Zac, a chayal boded from Zimbabwe and the U.S.A. is with his unit on the northern border tonight . We are so proud that he volunteered along with his fellow Israelis and other men and women from all over the world. Kol Hakavod to Elie!

I am an Australian, a Gentile and a Christian. One of my favourite books is Corrie ten Boom’s “The Hiding Place”; two others are Leon Uris’ “Exodus” and “Mila 18” – the latter was the first book I ever read that taught me about the Shoah.

On the evening of the Sunday 20th I did not know to light a candle; but I sat looking at my computer screen and nearly burst into tears of joy and relief because my country had just announced that it would NOT be going to the farce that is ‘Durban II’.

I had written to my Prime Minister and to others, begging them to boycott that event; warning them and informing them of the murderous depth of hatred toward Jews that many of the Muslim attendees would be bringing to it, warping and poisoning whatever was done there. I don’t know whether my letters helped make any difference, but I do know my government heeded the pleas of some of our Jewish citizens and, at the last minute, chose not to go.

My prayer for you all is that the Holy One will be a wall of fire, not just around Jerusalem, but around the whole land and House of Israel, and that He will be the glory in your midst. I am praying Psalm 83 for you, as well.

May the Mighty One, the shepherd of Israel, guide and protect your soldiers and your airmen.

We are a democratic country; so much so, we allow our enemies into our government and from the podium of our parliament, they have the freedom to call for policies that would destroy us.
Our current enemies, those who pose the most immediate threat lie to our north. This is Hizbollah land, where according to their leader Hassan Nasrallah, “We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we love death.”
Our enemies lie to the northeast. This is Syria. My sons have spent many months on the Golan Heights, including some tense days waiting to see how the Syrians would react after Israel sent planes to destroy a building widely believed to be the beginnings of a nuclear reactor. My oldest son fought near Gaza to help stop the rockets from being fired against Israel.
Our enemies lie further to the east. This is Iran, led by fanatics who promise that they will do all they can to accomplish in a few minutes more than what Adolf Hitler accomplished in six years of war. The Iranian leadership has made it clear in words and actions that they are after a nuclear bomb and that their goal is to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Believe them.